Page 23 - NIS English 01-15 December, 2025

ment in basic physical infrastructure such as roads,
housing, telecommunications, electricity, toilets, and
cooking gas. This has advanced rural aspirations.
Now that the infrastructure is being developed at Cooperatives are a model for the
a fast pace, the rural economy needs to be further
strengthened, organized, and integrated with the world, but for India, cooperatives
market. In this context, the cooperative-based eco- are the foundation of culture, a
nomic model is poised to become a key engine of way of life. Today, in India, we
India’s growth, contributing to the realization of the are working to develop India
goal of a Viksit Bharat by 2047. by combining the power of
government and cooperation.
THE COOPERATIVE MOVEMENT IN INDIA
Before independence, some farmers in the We are following the mantra of
Anand-Kheda district of Gujarat were selling milk Sahkar Se Samriddhi.
to Polson Dairy in Mumbai. On one occasion,
farmers demanded a price increase, and Polson Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
Dairy stopped buying milk. The farmers, under the
leadership of Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel, feeling
helpless, approached Sardar Patel. He said, “If you Bombay Cooperative Societies Act of 1925. This was
accept slavery, you will endure exploitation. If you the first cooperative that had a humble beginning,
don’t want to do that, you should form your own which started from a small village collecting 250
cooperative society and trade your milk yourself.” liters of milk. From there, the journey to becoming
Then, under the leadership of Tribhuvan Das Patel, Amul, the world’s strongest cooperative brand, was
history was made on December 14, 1946, when the paved by Tribhuvan Das Patel. Tribhuvan Das, under
Kheda District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union, the inspiration from great leader like Sardar Patel,
commonly known as Amul, was registered under the was one of the individuals who laid the foundation

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